Influential Woman · Higher Education

Mariah B. Liggins

Program Director of the John Lewis Student Leadership Pathways, Georgia Institute of Technology

Atlanta, GA

Certifications · Degrees · Memberships

Degree Doctoral Degree (expected graduation June 2025) Cert Data Analytics Certification (in progress) Member NASPA (National Association of Student Personnel Administrators) Member Women in Student Affairs

Her Story

About Mariah

I've been working in higher education for 7 years, and I'm passionate about advocating for women and underrepresented groups in our field. I serve as the Social Justice Co-Chair for Women in Student Affairs within NASPA, where I host workshops on everything from women being resilient to work-life balance and seeking equal pay. You name it, I'm probably advocating for it and hosting a workshop on talking to people about how to get resources to do it. One of my most notable achievements has been co-authoring a published book chapter called 'Diapers to Degrees' with my husband Travis, who also works in higher education. We wrote about being a married couple going through extreme academic programs while working full-time and balancing marriage, children, and all of the things. Being able to see a book that I published was just an incredible opportunity, and I'm the first in my family to do something like that. I'm hoping it'll inspire other people and that people can actually get some tips and tricks out of there too. I'm currently finishing my doctoral degree and will graduate this June, and I'm also completing a data analytics certification at the same time. Even though I don't consider myself a data girl, I wanted to challenge myself to learn skills that are outside of my nature to better serve in today's world.

Her Interview

Ten minutes with Mariah

01What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?

I would definitely give them advice to just stay resilient, and also stay true to themselves, and also just continue to create space for themselves as well in the industry. Don't let people silence you, don't let people place you in a box, don't let people tell you what you can and cannot never do, because I've heard so many no's throughout my career. I just want people that's entering the field to understand that even if you have to pivot in how you get your goals put across, you are still able to accomplish your goal, though. You're still able to get there. It just may look different in today's age with the parameters that we're around.

02What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?

Some of the challenges I feel that our industry is going to face is just the change of DEI. The change of how we offer resources to veterans, or people that's with disability services, or women, or people of color, or just anybody that falls up under that bracket. A lot of the workshops we do, initiatives that we used to do, a lot of the programs we used to do, unfortunately, were filtered down to where we can only offer things at an extreme minimum, or not at all. I just want to make sure that people that are seeking those resources are seen and still heard, and people like myself that want to do the work to offer it, hopefully we still have a job to do it. With the forever changing industry, I just hope people don't forget how necessary and needed some of these resources are. I would hate for so many people to feel like they're getting burnt out in the field, because they can't do the work that they signed up for that they love.

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